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Universal Design in Learning

Universal Design in Learning

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I have found myself once again immersing myself in Universal Design for Learning both for a class I am teaching and to help justify to teachers why they may need to vary the tools and media they teach with.  As educators we need to go back to the fundamentals of what, why and how we teach.  I strongly suggest you take some time to explore these 2 related sites as they have much information and many examples to help inform your teaching. CAST and National Center on Universal Design in Learning

Thinking Browsers

Thinking Browsers

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Just a quick thought. I am not sure I like that my browser and various application are thinking for me. A while back I was looking online at beds, now all the ads streaming across my screen are about beds and bedding. I have long since moved on but my browser has not.  When I search news stories or seek articles I am frequently told what is trending, as if my attention should be drawn there. Google, Twitter, Plurk, and…

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Standards, Curriculum and Assessment

Standards, Curriculum and Assessment

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In Massachusetts we have, or is it had, the Mass Curriculum Frameworks and Standards.  Now we are transitioning to the Common Core. These standards, as I understand the term, are to provide the framework, backbone by which we build our curriculum. A list of standards is not the same as a curriculum. I think we tend to confuse standards (minimum to do list) and curriculum (expanded, creative how to guide). We tend to focus on the to do list and…

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Wistful Reflection

Wistful Reflection

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I have to admit there are times I long to return to the classroom.  Once upon at time I was a middle school science and math teacher.  Over those 2 decades my curriculum hardly changed, in fact for 15 years (4 schools, on 3 continents) I taught with the same edition of a Prentice-Hall science series. Periodically I had to adjust the wording and format of the curriculum to reflect the edu-speak of the day – changing from aim, to…

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Where are the media rich textbooks?

Where are the media rich textbooks?

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Push Pop press, which was developing software to easily create and publish interactive media rich books, has abandoned its development and sold the program/process to facebook so facebook can become a bigger book. Kind of sad really.  Trying to find quality, interactive media rich books already created is pretty slim. The possibilities offered here by PushPop were wonderful.   I have been looking for such books for the ipads our students use.  Most textbooks I find are still primarily text based. …

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Learning is Not an Instructional Method

Learning is Not an Instructional Method

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Learning takes place within a learner it results in the change of the learners understanding and behavior.  As toddlers we learn that fire is hot, and ice is cold.  Those of us who watched A Christmas Story learned not to stick our tongue on a frozen flag pole. Though I am sure a few were inspired to try any way, they still learned the lesson. Learning takes place all the time as we engage with our environment and each other….

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Thoughts on “Beware the straight-A student”

Thoughts on “Beware the straight-A student”

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Doug Johnson recently wrote “Beware the straight-A student.” Doug wonders…. if straight-A students are “demonstrating, not intelligence, but the ability to conform, to mindlessly follow instructions, to support the established order? Do truly original thinkers and creative problem-solvers get high grades in school?” This reminded me of a situation I faced two years back in taking an online course designed for middle school science teachers.  The course was in earth science and I have a strong back ground in the…

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